African American studies scholar Molefi Kete Asante, called for this to emphasize the customs of African American cultures and how they have pervaded the history, culture, and behavior of Blacks in the United States and around the world. Counters Eurocentrism and works toward a multiculturalist or pluralist orientation in which no viewpoint is suppressed.

Term

Minority Group

Definition

a subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their own lives than do the members of a dominant or majority group.

Term

Racial Group

Definition

This term is reserved for minorities and the corresponding majorities that are socially set apart because of obvious physical differences.

Term

Ethnic Groups

Definition

A group set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns.

Term

Biological Race

Definition

The mistaken notion of a genetically isolated human group.

Term

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Definition

The ratio of a person's mental age (as computed by an IQ test) to his or her chronological age, multiplied by 100.

Term

Racism

Definition

A doctrine that one race is superior.

Term

Racial Formation

Definition

A sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed. (Example- With the creation of reservations for Native Americans in the late 1800s, distinctive tribes were all pushed together into one group.)

Term

Sociology

Definition

The systematic study of social behavior and human groups.

Term

Stratification

Definition

A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and power in a society.

Term

Class

Definition

As defined by Max Weber, people who share similar levels of wealth.

Term

Functionalist Perspective

Definition

A sociological approach emphasizing how parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability.

Term

Dysfunction

Definition

An element of society that may disrupt a social system or decrease its stability.

Term

Conflict Perspective

Definition

A sociological approach that assumes that the social structure is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.

Term

Blaming The Victim

Definition

Portraying the problems of racial and ethnic minorities as their fault rather than recognizing society's responsibilities.

Term

Labeling Theory

Definition

A sociological approach introduced by Howard Becker that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants and others engaging in the same behavior are not.

Term

Stereotypes

Definition

Unreliable, exaggerated generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account.

Term

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Definition

The tendency to respond to and act on the basis of stereotypes, a predisposition that can lead one to validate false definitions.

Term

migration

Definition

A general term that describes any transfer of population.

Term

Emigration

Definition

leaving a country to settle in another.

Term

Immigration

Definition

Coming into a new country as a permanent resident.

Term

Globalization

Definition

Worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade, movements of people, and the exchange of ideas.

Term

Colonialism

Definition

A foreign power's maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over people for an extended period.

Term

World Systems Theory

Definition

A view of the global economic system as divided between nations that control wealth and those that provide natural resources and labor.

Term

Internal Colonialism

Definition

The treatment of subordinate peoples as colonial subjects by those in power.

Term

Genocide

Definition

The deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation.

Term

Ethnic Cleansing

Definition

Forced deportation of people, accompanied by systematic violence.

Term

Segregation

Definition

The physical separation of two groups, often imposed on a subordinate group by the dominant group.

Term

Re-segregation

Definition

The physical separation of racial and ethnic groups reappearing after a period of relative integration.

Term

Fusion

Definition

A minority and a majority group combining to form a new group.

Term

Amalgamation

Definition

The process by which a dominant group and a subordinate group combine through intermarriage to form a new group.

Term

Melting Pot

Definition

Diverse racial or ethnic groups or both, forming a new creation, a new cultural entity.

Term

Assimilation

Definition

The process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group.

Term

Pluralism

Definition

Mutual respect between the various groups in a society for one another's cultures, allowing minorities to express their own culture without experiencing prejudice or hostility.

Term

Panethnicity

Definition

The development of solidarity between ethnic subgroups, as reflected in the terms Hispanic or Asian American.

Term

Marginality

Definition

The status of being between two cultures at the same time, such as the status of Jewish immigrants in the United States.